Modern hearing devices can be adapted to various acoustic surround situations as well as to a variety of signal sources with the help of different hearing programs. In this context the term “hearing program” refers to a specific set of parameters associated with the signal processing performed by the hearing device. The adaptation, i.e. the switching between different hearing programs, is performed by manually activating a switch at the hearing device or on a remote control, or automatically by the hearing device itself based on a suitable algorithm.
A programmable signal processing device capable of selecting a number of different signal processes to suit different sound situations automatically or by the user himself is disclosed in EP 0 064 042 A1.
A method for automatically recognising a momentary acoustic surround situation and for adjusting a hearing device according to the determined acoustic surround situation is known from WO 01/22790 A2. The known teaching is related to a very efficient algorithm with the aid of which the acoustic surround situation can be determined with a high reliability.
A method for detecting and automatically selecting an input signal in a hearing aid in which at least two analog input signals are available is described in EP 1 443 803 A2.
EP 1 653 773 A2 discloses a technique with which the best suited hearing program is selected after a certain input source has been detected and selected from a plurality of input sources.
In US 2002/0044669 A1 a hearing aid is proposed that automatically chooses a hearing program based on detecting whether it is located in the vicinity of an external transmitter.
A method for operating a hearing device capable of receiving a variety of input signals is described in WO 2008/071230 A1, wherein the parameters for controlling the processing of the hearing device are derived from information pertinent to the communication protocol used to transmit the input signal being processed.